By Paddy Gourlay Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Oil futures are stable Monday morning, trading within a narrow range, although prices have been mainly in negative territory during the session despite modest gains in European equities and a firmer euro against the dollar. Prices fell sharply Friday afternoon amid disappointing U.S. economic data and weaker equity markets. But trading volumes have been thin in both U.S. and European oil futures since the markets opened at 2200 GMT Sunday, and prices have moved within a 50 cents range. "There is not much news out there to drive the price," said a broker at London-based Bache Commodities. At 1102 GMT, the front-month September Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was 1 cent higher at $75.38 a barrel. The front-month August light sweet crude contract, called West Texas Intermediate, on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 1 cent lower at $76 a barrel. Before the latest jitters about economic growth, crude prices had risen to hover either side of $78 a barrel Wednesday as market participants increased their net long positions in Brent and WTI contracts. Money managers, including hedge funds, raised their net long position in Nymex crude oil futures to 85,962 in the week ended July 13, up 56% on the previous week, according to data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "The increase in positions could hint at an increase in oil prices, as money managers historically have a good record predicting oil price movements in the short-term," said David Wech, analyst at JBC Energy. Meanwhile, there was an explosion at the weekend of two oil pipelines at the Chinese Port of Dalian, which has closed the area to shipping for at least four days, a Singagore shipping agent told Dow Jones Newswires. BP PLC (BP) also suffered a further setback in its attempts to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, after seepage was reportedly found around the cap. The ICE's gasoil contract for August delivery was $4.25 higher at $642.75 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for August delivery was 0.13 cents higher at 204.99 cents a gallon. -By Paddy Gourlay, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420-7842-9364; patrick.gourlay@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 19, 2010 07:18 ET (11:18 GMT)